Getting there: Take Interstate 80 west for 45 miles to Exit 176, Boreal/Castle Peak.

Deal: Those with college and military identification can ride for $15 on Fridays.

More

ADVERTISEMENT

The parking lot at Boreal Mountain Resort tells the story.

In the late afternoon, about 4 p.m., skiers and boarders load up their gear to head home.

But while they are leaving, another wave of riders is pulling in, and it is testament to what makes Boreal unique: night riding and skiing.

Boreal is one of the few mountain resorts at Lake Tahoe that offers night skiing. Soon after 5:15 p.m., overhead lights shoot on and the immediate front side of the mountain at Boreal is illuminated.

"I think we've had (night skiing) since the beginning of time," Boreal General Manager Jody Churich said. "The resort opened in '65, and I know the lights were put in after that. It's certainly been more than 15 years."

Squaw Valley USA also offers limited nighttime skiing and boarding.

Riders who visit Boreal at night bring about 17 percent of its business, Churich said.

Riders like Sean Anderson, 19, of Kings Beach, have gone at night for several years. Like other boarders, he likes that the resort has a super pipe, and that it's available all hours.

"I think it's sick how they constantly maintain the park and that they keep the big park (called the Core) open at night," he said.

Riding at night has been around for so long that resort spokesman Jon Slaughter remembers going as a teenager.

Boreal Mountain Resort is about 45 west of Reno. While its 480 acres of terrain make the resort relatively small, visitors also can tube, giving Boreal another unique feature in addition to its evening riding and super pipe.

"Nights contribute greatly to our operations," Churich said. "They give people who work or are in school during the day the opportunity to still come out and ski and board."

Daily lift tickets holders buying the $47 pass can stay and ski until operations close at 9 p.m. Others can buy the $25 night pass that provides hill access starting at 3:30 p.m. Season pass holders can use their pass as usual during the evening. And on Thursday nights, locals in the Tahoe-Truckee hospitality industry can show a pay stub and ride for $15.

(Page 2 of 3)

An en-'lightened' hill

It's an unusual feeling to ride an illuminated hill at night. You feel like you've been given a hall pass from a teacher or told "By all means, stay up way past your bedtime tonight" by a parent.

At night, the illuminated hillside presents a study in chiaroscuro with its contrasting dark and light areas. Riding at night is like seeing someone with a new hairdo and suddenly viewing them in an entirely different light.

Perhaps because riders are limited to a small area of Boreal after 4 p.m. and will see each other again and again, they become more polite.

Just two of Boreal's six chairs lifts operate in the evening: Castle Peak and the Accelerator. The latter is the chair that takes riders to the top of the mountain at 7,701 feet and gives access to advanced and intermediate terrain and the super pipe.

Remember, that is just at night.

Day and night, Castle Peak takes riders to beginning terrain and the beginner's terrain park, the Mini-Shred. Boreal is not all about evening illumination, however.

During the day, riders of every skill level can take the Accelerator to the top. Everyone can take the longest runs, which are beginner, back to the lodge. To the East is the beginner Sunrise run and to the West is the beginner Sunset run, which is home to the Shred park.

At the top of the Accelerator, riders can see chair lifts from other resorts. The closest of these is at Donner Ski Ranch, which backs up to Boreal from Donner Pass Road. Northstar-at-Tahoe's downhill runs are visible in the distance. Ask a lift operator to point them out.

Terrain parks a mainstay

The terrain park features at Boreal are the hit of the resort at night and during the day.

Boarder Danielle Schlosser, 21, of Truckee, said that even though the resort is small, it offers a "lot of park stuff, though."

Boreal employee Matt Stocklmeier, 22, of Truckee, said it's the terrain parks at Boreal that bring in a lot of visitors.

"There's a whole lot of different features like boxes and jumps," he said. "There's the super pipe and the mini-pipe next to it. The pipes attract a lot of boarders and skiers that like to do that kind of stuff."

(Page 3 of 3)

No other resort goes so far as to have as many operating hours as Boreal does available to riders. With help from its new $1.2 million snow-making equipment, Boreal Mountain temporarily opened Oct. 9. of this season -- one of its earliest opening dates ever.

That opening attracted a raucous crowd of snow boarders and skiers eager to take advantage of the South 40 run that had been modified with terrain park features.

First person, first chair

Skier Rolf Bruestle, 81, of Lincoln Hills, Calif., also was there, but he just wanted to be the first person on the first operating chair lift at the first open resort.

"(The snow) is OK here, but I ski on everything," he said.

Boreal is about an hour's drive west of Reno. Despite its small size, it is personal and it is an easy mountain to get to know.

Perhaps one of the best undiscovered "stashes" at Boreal is the hot wings that go for 25 cents starting at 5 p.m. every Thursday in the Boreal Bar in the upper level of the lodge.

For every six wings or every drink purchased, customers receive a ticket for a 7 p.m. raffle. Giveaways include Dakine gloves, gift certificates to Burger Me and Blue Coyote and Skullcandy headphones.

Slaughter said the most popular raffle item is the Neff beanie with the Boreal logo.

"That's kind of the grand prize," he said. "We have just enough of them that they're wanted."

After the raffle, the bar is vacated and people head back out to ride.